Off target
Protests of Iraq shouldn't focus on recruiting centers
By: Editorial Board
Issue date: 11/20/07 Section: Opinion
The UNC Students for a Democratic Society has once again graced our campus with a protest that makes absolutely no sense.
SDS members marched from the Pit to the Army recruitment center on Franklin Street on Thursday supposedly to protest the war in Iraq and military recruiters.
Protests can be productive, but SDS's focus on the recruitment center was ill advised and targeted the wrong area.
Unfortunately, SDS has every right to march around and chant crazy nonsense. We can't deny it that, as much as we'd like to.
But protesting the existence of military recruiters has nothing to do with the war in Iraq. The U.S. government is responsible for that, not the military.
SDS is using the military only as a proxy through which to protest the war in Iraq.
The men and women of the military don't deserve the blame for the progress of the war; they deserve nothing less than our respect and support.
And for many, the military is an excellent job opportunity. It provides people with the means to travel around the world while simultaneously serving their country and making some money.
Recruiters serve to inform students about a viable career path. If we are going to ask recruiters to leave, maybe we should kick University Career Services off campus, too.
We concede that some recruiters can be deceptive in getting people to join the military. However, SDS cannot simply slap that label on all recruiting centers.
It ignores the fact that many people do, in fact, want to join the military and many who end up joining wouldn't have nearly enough information to decide without talking to a recruiter.
Lumping all recruiters in with the few bad apples would be much like us labeling all members of SDS as half-baked psychopaths just based on their association with the group.
SDS has a history of pointless, unproductive protests since its January 2006 re-establishment. In February of this year, SDS members were among six arrested for staging a sit-in at the office of U.S. Rep. David Price, D-Orange.
They argued that he didn't do enough to stop the war when in reality he had done nearly everything in his power short of voting against funding the troops because, unlike SDS, he understands that cutting out funding will lead to less-equipped troops and more American casualties.
Groups who are so incapable of functioning in public without embarrassing the human race should just stay indoors.
SDS members marched from the Pit to the Army recruitment center on Franklin Street on Thursday supposedly to protest the war in Iraq and military recruiters.
Protests can be productive, but SDS's focus on the recruitment center was ill advised and targeted the wrong area.
Unfortunately, SDS has every right to march around and chant crazy nonsense. We can't deny it that, as much as we'd like to.
But protesting the existence of military recruiters has nothing to do with the war in Iraq. The U.S. government is responsible for that, not the military.
SDS is using the military only as a proxy through which to protest the war in Iraq.
The men and women of the military don't deserve the blame for the progress of the war; they deserve nothing less than our respect and support.
And for many, the military is an excellent job opportunity. It provides people with the means to travel around the world while simultaneously serving their country and making some money.
Recruiters serve to inform students about a viable career path. If we are going to ask recruiters to leave, maybe we should kick University Career Services off campus, too.
We concede that some recruiters can be deceptive in getting people to join the military. However, SDS cannot simply slap that label on all recruiting centers.
It ignores the fact that many people do, in fact, want to join the military and many who end up joining wouldn't have nearly enough information to decide without talking to a recruiter.
Lumping all recruiters in with the few bad apples would be much like us labeling all members of SDS as half-baked psychopaths just based on their association with the group.
SDS has a history of pointless, unproductive protests since its January 2006 re-establishment. In February of this year, SDS members were among six arrested for staging a sit-in at the office of U.S. Rep. David Price, D-Orange.
They argued that he didn't do enough to stop the war when in reality he had done nearly everything in his power short of voting against funding the troops because, unlike SDS, he understands that cutting out funding will lead to less-equipped troops and more American casualties.
Groups who are so incapable of functioning in public without embarrassing the human race should just stay indoors.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 17
Ho Chi Minh
posted 11/20/07 @ 8:12 AM EST
Silly Yank, if you think war is great for business, why don't you invest yourself? I can always use some more dead imperialist blood.
Thomas Paine
posted 11/20/07 @ 10:59 AM EST
Unfortunately, SDS has every right to march around and chant crazy nonsense. We can't deny it that, as much as we'd like to.
Damn. Whether or not I agree with the SDS, I would HATE to live in a society where they don't have the right to do this. (Continued…)
Oh Tham Eng
posted 11/20/07 @ 11:21 AM EST
An Open Letter to US Congressmen, Senators and American Citizens:-
Iraq War is not Another Vietnam!
Hi Americans!
Iraq War is not another Vietnam. (Continued…)
w
posted 11/20/07 @ 12:14 PM EST
I want to kiss the Daily Tar Heel on the mouth. This article is magnificent.
(And "Thomas Paine"s post is a case-in-point for the irrascible pointlessness of their organization. (Continued…)
w
posted 11/20/07 @ 1:50 PM EST
"a centrist defense of power against perceived 'radicals'" . . "extremist rant" . . "wishing for" a state where it's illegal to disagree with the government?
Whether or not you are a member of the SDS, you are every bit as terrible at picking your battles. (Continued…)
ELC
posted 11/20/07 @ 4:59 PM EST
The SDS blaming the Iraq war on recruiters is like Chapel Hill residents blaming students for all the campus construction.
J. Pattishall
posted 11/20/07 @ 6:31 PM EST
Paine is right; the DTH displayed an unhealthy (not to mention, unconstitutional) contempt for freedom of speech in their editorial. How anyone at a University could be so reactionary is beyond my power of comprehension. (Continued…)
sackolantern
sackolantern
posted 11/20/07 @ 7:48 PM EST
""Unfortunately, SDS has every right to march around and chant crazy nonsense. We can't deny it that, as much as we'd like to.""
Wow, people are pointing to this statement as an editorial attack? Sounds pretty clear to me as just the opposite, saying that though we might wish to deny this, because it bothers and offends some, we cannot and will not do that. (Continued…)
Heather Slutbags
posted 11/20/07 @ 10:57 PM EST
Apparently my dear fellow commentators have not been reading my enlightened discourse on other articles in the DTH.
The DTH editorial board is full of a bunch of asinine, censorious trolls who couldn't tell a line from a byline and wouldn't know what to do with either. (Continued…)
Oh Tham Eng
posted 11/21/07 @ 1:22 AM EST
"The UNC Students for a Democratic Society has once again graced our campus with a protest that makes absolutely no sense.....
SDS has a history of pointless, unproductive protests since its January 2006 re-establishment. (Continued…)
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